This is for this precious little girl who was found deceased and has never been identified.She was only about 2 years old and sadly did not get to live her life.She needs her name back and her family to have closure.She is in a better place and may she always rest in peace lttle one.I love you∼Thanks to advances in DNA technology and determined investigators, the little girl who was known only as Baby Jane Doe for 38 years, now has a name. She is Alisha Ann Heinrich and she was 23 months old when she was found floating in the Escatawpa River on December 5, 1982. Her mother is Gwendolyn Mae Clemons, age 23, and she hasn't been seen or heard from since she and Alisha disappeared from the Joplin, Missouri area around Thanksgiving, 1982. Our investigators hope the identities will lead to more clues to solve this case. It remains open and active. We are asking any law enforcement agency that may have found an unidentified body matching Gwen's description to please contact us. The investigators are also working closely with family members, hoping to determine who killed Alisha and what happened to Gwen. Anyone with information on this case is asked to call 228-769-3063.∼Alisha Ann Heinrich, previously known as "Delta Dawn" and "Baby Jane" was a formerly unidentified child murder victim whose body was found in Moss Point, Mississippi in December 1982. The child — aged approximately 18 months — was partially smothered before she was thrown alive from the eastbound Interstate 10 bridge into the Escatawpa River, where she ultimately drowned. Her body was recovered between 36 and 48 hours after her death...from Wikipedia∼The name of a female toddler discovered along the banks of the Escatawpa River in Moss Point, MS in 1982 has been found using forensic genetic genealogy.
On December 3rd, 1982, multiple witnesses reported a young adult female dressed in a blue plaid shirt and jeans walking west along I-40, close to the Alabama-Mississippi border. The woman, who appeared to be under extreme distress, was carrying a female toddler. Two days later, at approximately 7:00 am, a passing motorist reported the body of a woman wearing a blue plaid shirt floating in the Escatawpa river. Attempts to search for the woman’s body were unsuccessful; however, the body of a female toddler was found in the tall grasses on the riverbank. Autopsy results showed that the child had drowned in the river, and that there had been an attempt to smother her beforehand. Efforts to identify the toddler, referred to in the media as ‘Delta Dawn’ or ‘Baby Jane’, were unsuccessful, and the case went cold.
In March 2020, lead Forensic Genealogists Anthony Lukas Redgrave and Lee Bingham Redgrave received the unidentified child’s autosomal DNA profile from Othram, Inc., a forensic genomics lab. Utilizing both GEDMatch and Family Tree DNA databases, Redgrave Research Forensic Services’ genealogy team was able to develop parental candidates for ‘Delta Dawn’ in just under eight weeks. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office then contacted the parental candidates’ families for a DNA sample and further questioning, confirming the identity of the child as 18-month old Alisha Ann Heinrich of Kansas City, Missouri.
Alisha was born on May 24th, 1981 to Gwendolyn Mae Clemons, who was recently divorced at the time of their disappearance. Alisha and Gwendolyn were reported missing from Kansas City, Missouri on November 24th, 1982. Investigators learned that the Clemons’ were able to travel with a male friend with the intent of starting a new life in Florida, and though that friend, now deceased, had returned to Missouri without the two. He is currently a person of interest. Investigators have reason to believe that the eyewitness reports of the woman and child seen on the 3rd and 5th of December 1982 are Gwendolyn and Alisha.
If you have any information relating to the whereabouts of Alisha Ann Heinrich and Gwendolyn Mae Clemons’ from their November 24th, 1982 disappearance to Alisha’s December 5th, 1982 discovery, or information pertaining to Gwendolyn’s current whereabouts, please contact the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office at (228) 769-3024.
The remains of this unidentified child were discovered in the Dog River, beneath the westbound lane of I-10 in Pascagoula, MS, on December 5, 1982. The child is believed to have been deceased for 36 to 48 hours prior to the discovery of her body. It was determined that she was 2'6" in height and weighed between 20-25 lbs. She had blonde hair and her eye color was either brown or blue. The image is a computer generated facial reconstruction done by a forensic artist at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Features such as eye color and hair style are the estimations of the artist to complete the image and should not be used as a significant marker for identification. The "Missing" field is the date when she was found, the "Missing From" field is the location where she was found and the "DOB" and "Age Now" fields are approximations.
On December 3rd, 1982, multiple witnesses reported a young adult female dressed in a blue plaid shirt and jeans walking west along I-40, close to the Alabama-Mississippi border. The woman, who appeared to be under extreme distress, was carrying a female toddler. Two days later, at approximately 7:00 am, a passing motorist reported the body of a woman wearing a blue plaid shirt floating in the Escatawpa river. Attempts to search for the woman’s body were unsuccessful; however, the body of a female toddler was found in the tall grasses on the riverbank. Autopsy results showed that the child had drowned in the river, and that there had been an attempt to smother her beforehand. Efforts to identify the toddler, referred to in the media as ‘Delta Dawn’ or ‘Baby Jane’, were unsuccessful, and the case went cold.
In March 2020, lead Forensic Genealogists Anthony Lukas Redgrave and Lee Bingham Redgrave received the unidentified child’s autosomal DNA profile from Othram, Inc., a forensic genomics lab. Utilizing both GEDMatch and Family Tree DNA databases, Redgrave Research Forensic Services’ genealogy team was able to develop parental candidates for ‘Delta Dawn’ in just under eight weeks. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office then contacted the parental candidates’ families for a DNA sample and further questioning, confirming the identity of the child as 18-month old Alisha Ann Heinrich of Kansas City, Missouri.
Alisha was born on May 24th, 1981 to Gwendolyn Mae Clemons, who was recently divorced at the time of their disappearance. Alisha and Gwendolyn were reported missing from Kansas City, Missouri on November 24th, 1982. Investigators learned that the Clemons’ were able to travel with a male friend with the intent of starting a new life in Florida, and though that friend, now deceased, had returned to Missouri without the two. He is currently a person of interest. Investigators have reason to believe that the eyewitness reports of the woman and child seen on the 3rd and 5th of December 1982 are Gwendolyn and Alisha.
If you have any information relating to the whereabouts of Alisha Ann Heinrich and Gwendolyn Mae Clemons’ from their November 24th, 1982 disappearance to Alisha’s December 5th, 1982 discovery, or information pertaining to Gwendolyn’s current whereabouts, please contact the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office at (228) 769-3024.
The remains of this unidentified child were discovered in the Dog River, beneath the westbound lane of I-10 in Pascagoula, MS, on December 5, 1982. The child is believed to have been deceased for 36 to 48 hours prior to the discovery of her body. It was determined that she was 2'6" in height and weighed between 20-25 lbs. She had blonde hair and her eye color was either brown or blue. The image is a computer generated facial reconstruction done by a forensic artist at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Features such as eye color and hair style are the estimations of the artist to complete the image and should not be used as a significant marker for identification. The "Missing" field is the date when she was found, the "Missing From" field is the location where she was found and the "DOB" and "Age Now" fields are approximations.
This is for this precious little girl who was found deceased and has never been identified.She was only about 2 years old and sadly did not get to live her life.She needs her name back and her family to have closure.She is in a better place and may she always rest in peace lttle one.I love you∼Thanks to advances in DNA technology and determined investigators, the little girl who was known only as Baby Jane Doe for 38 years, now has a name. She is Alisha Ann Heinrich and she was 23 months old when she was found floating in the Escatawpa River on December 5, 1982. Her mother is Gwendolyn Mae Clemons, age 23, and she hasn't been seen or heard from since she and Alisha disappeared from the Joplin, Missouri area around Thanksgiving, 1982. Our investigators hope the identities will lead to more clues to solve this case. It remains open and active. We are asking any law enforcement agency that may have found an unidentified body matching Gwen's description to please contact us. The investigators are also working closely with family members, hoping to determine who killed Alisha and what happened to Gwen. Anyone with information on this case is asked to call 228-769-3063.∼Alisha Ann Heinrich, previously known as "Delta Dawn" and "Baby Jane" was a formerly unidentified child murder victim whose body was found in Moss Point, Mississippi in December 1982. The child — aged approximately 18 months — was partially smothered before she was thrown alive from the eastbound Interstate 10 bridge into the Escatawpa River, where she ultimately drowned. Her body was recovered between 36 and 48 hours after her death...from Wikipedia∼The name of a female toddler discovered along the banks of the Escatawpa River in Moss Point, MS in 1982 has been found using forensic genetic genealogy.
On December 3rd, 1982, multiple witnesses reported a young adult female dressed in a blue plaid shirt and jeans walking west along I-40, close to the Alabama-Mississippi border. The woman, who appeared to be under extreme distress, was carrying a female toddler. Two days later, at approximately 7:00 am, a passing motorist reported the body of a woman wearing a blue plaid shirt floating in the Escatawpa river. Attempts to search for the woman’s body were unsuccessful; however, the body of a female toddler was found in the tall grasses on the riverbank. Autopsy results showed that the child had drowned in the river, and that there had been an attempt to smother her beforehand. Efforts to identify the toddler, referred to in the media as ‘Delta Dawn’ or ‘Baby Jane’, were unsuccessful, and the case went cold.
In March 2020, lead Forensic Genealogists Anthony Lukas Redgrave and Lee Bingham Redgrave received the unidentified child’s autosomal DNA profile from Othram, Inc., a forensic genomics lab. Utilizing both GEDMatch and Family Tree DNA databases, Redgrave Research Forensic Services’ genealogy team was able to develop parental candidates for ‘Delta Dawn’ in just under eight weeks. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office then contacted the parental candidates’ families for a DNA sample and further questioning, confirming the identity of the child as 18-month old Alisha Ann Heinrich of Kansas City, Missouri.
Alisha was born on May 24th, 1981 to Gwendolyn Mae Clemons, who was recently divorced at the time of their disappearance. Alisha and Gwendolyn were reported missing from Kansas City, Missouri on November 24th, 1982. Investigators learned that the Clemons’ were able to travel with a male friend with the intent of starting a new life in Florida, and though that friend, now deceased, had returned to Missouri without the two. He is currently a person of interest. Investigators have reason to believe that the eyewitness reports of the woman and child seen on the 3rd and 5th of December 1982 are Gwendolyn and Alisha.
If you have any information relating to the whereabouts of Alisha Ann Heinrich and Gwendolyn Mae Clemons’ from their November 24th, 1982 disappearance to Alisha’s December 5th, 1982 discovery, or information pertaining to Gwendolyn’s current whereabouts, please contact the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office at (228) 769-3024.
The remains of this unidentified child were discovered in the Dog River, beneath the westbound lane of I-10 in Pascagoula, MS, on December 5, 1982. The child is believed to have been deceased for 36 to 48 hours prior to the discovery of her body. It was determined that she was 2'6" in height and weighed between 20-25 lbs. She had blonde hair and her eye color was either brown or blue. The image is a computer generated facial reconstruction done by a forensic artist at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Features such as eye color and hair style are the estimations of the artist to complete the image and should not be used as a significant marker for identification. The "Missing" field is the date when she was found, the "Missing From" field is the location where she was found and the "DOB" and "Age Now" fields are approximations.
On December 3rd, 1982, multiple witnesses reported a young adult female dressed in a blue plaid shirt and jeans walking west along I-40, close to the Alabama-Mississippi border. The woman, who appeared to be under extreme distress, was carrying a female toddler. Two days later, at approximately 7:00 am, a passing motorist reported the body of a woman wearing a blue plaid shirt floating in the Escatawpa river. Attempts to search for the woman’s body were unsuccessful; however, the body of a female toddler was found in the tall grasses on the riverbank. Autopsy results showed that the child had drowned in the river, and that there had been an attempt to smother her beforehand. Efforts to identify the toddler, referred to in the media as ‘Delta Dawn’ or ‘Baby Jane’, were unsuccessful, and the case went cold.
In March 2020, lead Forensic Genealogists Anthony Lukas Redgrave and Lee Bingham Redgrave received the unidentified child’s autosomal DNA profile from Othram, Inc., a forensic genomics lab. Utilizing both GEDMatch and Family Tree DNA databases, Redgrave Research Forensic Services’ genealogy team was able to develop parental candidates for ‘Delta Dawn’ in just under eight weeks. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office then contacted the parental candidates’ families for a DNA sample and further questioning, confirming the identity of the child as 18-month old Alisha Ann Heinrich of Kansas City, Missouri.
Alisha was born on May 24th, 1981 to Gwendolyn Mae Clemons, who was recently divorced at the time of their disappearance. Alisha and Gwendolyn were reported missing from Kansas City, Missouri on November 24th, 1982. Investigators learned that the Clemons’ were able to travel with a male friend with the intent of starting a new life in Florida, and though that friend, now deceased, had returned to Missouri without the two. He is currently a person of interest. Investigators have reason to believe that the eyewitness reports of the woman and child seen on the 3rd and 5th of December 1982 are Gwendolyn and Alisha.
If you have any information relating to the whereabouts of Alisha Ann Heinrich and Gwendolyn Mae Clemons’ from their November 24th, 1982 disappearance to Alisha’s December 5th, 1982 discovery, or information pertaining to Gwendolyn’s current whereabouts, please contact the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office at (228) 769-3024.
The remains of this unidentified child were discovered in the Dog River, beneath the westbound lane of I-10 in Pascagoula, MS, on December 5, 1982. The child is believed to have been deceased for 36 to 48 hours prior to the discovery of her body. It was determined that she was 2'6" in height and weighed between 20-25 lbs. She had blonde hair and her eye color was either brown or blue. The image is a computer generated facial reconstruction done by a forensic artist at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Features such as eye color and hair style are the estimations of the artist to complete the image and should not be used as a significant marker for identification. The "Missing" field is the date when she was found, the "Missing From" field is the location where she was found and the "DOB" and "Age Now" fields are approximations.
Gravesite Details
Baby Jane is also know as "Delta Dawn."
Family Members
Parents
